Blame it on the Rain

September 11, 2007

We have been very blessed by rain the past few days. We have needed it. I am sure the farmers and gardeners have needed it, and I think all the rest of us needed it too. I know I did. For those of you who don’t know this, I spent the largest chunk of my growing up years in Juneau AK. Juneau’s weather is very similar to that of Seattle. Rain. A lot of rain. All the time.

When Tracy was here recently visiting from Juneau, she asked me if I ever get sick of the sun. And my answer is YES! I do! There comes a point when I have had all the brightness I can take. All the glare and squinting and not leaving anywhere without my sunglasses securely attached to my face that I can stand. There comes a point when I crave rainy days, all strung together, the clouds never parting, the greyness just hanging around like a camp blanket. Rainy days for staying home and reading books and taking things slower.

In Juneau life doesn’t really stop for the rain. They wouldn’t get anything done if it did. But here in this southern place I call home, rain does seem to slow the pace a little. And a slower pace was just what I was looking for.

To me the rain signals the changing of the season, the reminder to start planning for winter and holidays and even a bit of hibernation maybe.

Seems like a lot of things are changing right now. Right at the beginning of this school year and this new fall season… I feel my internal rhythm changing, slowing down, taking stock. My business is starting to shift a bit and it feels good and natural. The Shoppes are doing well and they are taking up more of my time, more of my creative juices, more of my excitement. Also I have a launched a new addition to my business, “Storia Boutique Web Design” and have begun working on my first official project. All of this has allowed me to be home more, to go at my own pace and to be able to flex a little more with ups and downs of life with la famille.

Also, I feel with the coming on of fall, a renewed desire to nest and fluff and plan. I want to make menus and buy large amounts of groceries and cook things that bubble in the middle and are for comfort. Fall brings out a much more traditional domestic side of me – I have dreams of baking and sewing and making soup and settling in with a good book every night. Well, the other night, with the rain and the feelings of nesting growing and the urge to bake becoming very great, I was caught in a moment of weakness and joined a book club. A book club where you get a bunch of books for next to nothing now and then have to buy some more over the next few years at regular price. Oh, I am a sucker. But I saved a $188 … That’s good right?

Well, regardless, it is done now and I am going to blame it on the rain…

So here is some of what I am going to be reading over the next few months and hopefully putting to some good use… I will keep you posted!

It is finally raining here in Mass. We haven’t had any measurable rain in almost 2 months and the leaves are drooping and falling off the trees without thought of changing to vibrant colors first. It saddens me, but maybe the rain today will help some and in the meanwhile I plan to make some bread and maybe some spaghetti sauce and read while the sauce bubbles and the house smells yeasty!! Ah, fall.Janet

ironic, because it’s sunny here today, and it is drastically helping my mood! this weekend, honey & I had to get some plants in the ground that had been sitting on the deck for weeks, begging to be planted, and luckily it was only overcast & not pouring buckets! I’m a total sucker for those books clubs, too, but have resisted temptation thus far. I see you found Victoria’s Intimate Home ~ yay! The cover looks different than mine, but I am positive you will enjoy it. I thnk I like it more than At Home with White. my mom had bought Romantic Home Sewing (for herself) but I squealed when I saw it, and she wound up letting me keep it 🙂

whoo needs barnes and nobles or the library when you have abest friend who’s a sucker for a book club. lol.i think it was the not seeing the sun that was also affecting my funk. but today was incrediable. lets just hope that fall is taking pitty on me and coming early.

I love that book club. I join it often! I think it works out to be a great deal. Enjoy your rainy weather. I’m in cooking mode right now too. I’m thinking about chicken pot pie with biscuits, beef roast, apple cake… You hungry yet?

Made a sales call to a guy in Sitka yesterday … that brought back lots of good Alaska memories. Took me 5 or 6 years afetr we moved back to Arkansas to stop thinking about Alaska every day. I’ve got down to 2 or 3 times a month now, on average. Nothing average about Alaska, though. The Great Land really is.daddyo

oooh – I have flipped through the <>Romantic Home Sewing<> book about a million times at the bookstore – and each time I have to remind myself that I have boxes of fabric and a pile of patterns that I have yet to do anything with… and I can barely sew a straight line! Lovely and simple.

I love your blog, it is such a great place to visit! How wonderful that you can help people make their homes a true haven for them. I totally feel like you do, I want to fluff, and cook soups and all the fun things that say “fall”…Lidy

Good for you and following your heart. Do what you love. I remember every fall in Juneau, (read August), I began to cook instead of picking every single berry off every bush within a quarter mile of our house. The sun would actually decide to go down just to stay away, but the urge to cook was very strong. I don’t get that here until it gets really cool. Right now I’m just enjoying our beautiful fall, where you can have months of coolish days and cooler nights. Love those memories.Mom

Wow! You just never know what you are going to find when browsing favorites on someone else’s blog, I found a neighbor! I was surprised to see from your profile that you live in a neighboring town! I guess it really is a small world. This is my first visit to your blog and I will return. Autumn is one of my favorite seasons also and I too am thankful for the recent rains. Happy reading! Feel free to visit me at http://quillcottage.blogspot.com